海角大神

Google has聽sparked聽an online聽tizzy with its Project Glass聽video, a breezy, aspirational clip depicting life after we all sport the search giant鈥檚 snazzy new designer spectacles聽that put the digital world at our, er, nose-tips, from the moment we rise.

This聽snappy online聽montage shows just how groovy it might be to wake up and have the world flow your way through voice and even (gasp!) eye commands.

Straight from the reels of any good sci-fi flick in the past聽half-century or so, the hi-tech-bespectacled hipster in the video聽gets weather data just by looking out the window and聽subway updates by simply walking outside. He snaps pix and shares them with his circle of friends, and locates and talks to his buddies.

But this is not a promotional ad for a real product聽that consumers may snap up at any time in the near future. This is a gambit from the team at Google X, the search giant鈥檚 experimental聽lab, reaching out to users for comments and feedback.

鈥淲e鈥檙e sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input,鈥� the online posting said Wednesday.

And so the video has already spawned spoofs and聽biting commentary about the wisdom of such a product, suggesting, at a minimum,聽a new relationship between tech聽entrepreneurs聽and a public that has grown weary of new products falling below expectations (iPhone鈥檚 SIRI, anyone?)

One satirical take-off聽would be at home on Saturday Night Live, with a hapless dude flailing through his day trying to ward off a stream of unnecessary and unwanted聽information hitting him literally between the eyes,聽endangering not only his personal safety but possibly his mental health.

Bloggers such as Blair MacIntyre, director of the Augmented Reality Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta,聽ask the obvious questions, such as 鈥渋s it a good idea for Google to hype expectations about a product that it cannot possibly deliver?鈥�

The future product鈥檚 technology builds on many existing聽smart functions,聽such as聽location-based technology and targeted advertising. But, points out聽Mr.聽MacIntyre, many of those technologies have also fallen short of expectations.

鈥淚 was an聽early adopter with those apps,鈥� he says, but notes that after fumbling through聽notification after notification of only mildly useful information flowing incessantly into his smart phone, 鈥淚 stopped looking at each one as it came in.鈥�

The聽proposed聽new gadget has some聽applauding what they call the next, big era of consumer hands-free living.

鈥淕oogle is trying to illustrate the compelling possibilities of a technology like this,鈥� says Rick Chin, director of innovation for 3DS SolidWorks, a product design software聽company, via e-mail. 鈥淚t gives them and the rest of us a direction to try and work towards,鈥� he notes.

However, he is quick to point out the聽technology gap facing聽Google聽in its ability to deliver on expectations.

鈥淚t is very true that today's mainstream technologies don't support the kind of performance that they showed in their video. For the product to perform as fast and robustly as they illustrated, would require major improvements in head tracking, camera performance, and a heads-up-display (HUD) that is lighter, has higher resolution and brightness than anything affordable at a consumer level 鈥� today,鈥� he notes.

It's an ambitious project, agrees Jon Burgstone,聽founder of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at the University of California at聽Berkeley.

鈥淚f it works,鈥� he says via e-mail, 鈥渋t could be an important step-forward for peoples' relationship with information, and possibly how we interact with each other.鈥�

Google has some hurdles, however, he points out.

鈥淭his is a complex project, with impact on Google, everyday users, and how people interact with society,鈥� he says. Google needs to find and meet an important set of customer needs, he notes. And, none of that will matter if the product falls short of expectations, he says, adding, 鈥渢he product needs to work.鈥�

Google must answer all sorts of questions: Does the interface work smoothly? How good is service coverage? Do the glasses emit radiation that presents a health risk? Do users find they鈥檙e more efficient or do they get distracted?

If it is successful, however, he adds, it could be a true game changer for consumer technology.